Kathryn starts us off:
"I used to ride to Marathon every
week with Grandma to go grocery shopping. I was a teen and she was in her 70’s.
She would drive down from the farm and pick me up and we went the back ways.
First we went towards Lisle on the main road, Rte.79. We turned onto Owen Hill
Road and went on that till we got on Killawog Hill Road . That took us through
Killawog and into the back part of Marathon, not far from the IGA. Ah, the
scenic route. Beautiful hills with amazing panoramic views looking down, at
times, at the Tioughnioga River. Lots and lots of farms. Yup. Beautiful.
Tractors were on the road regularly hauling hay wagons or even the fragrant
“honey wagons”. Sigh.
Aunt Lil, 1970
My life often flashed before my eyes
on these trips. My Grandma was not the sweet little old lady who drove at a
crawl. She drove like a bat out of . . . . Well, you know where. I think her
right foot was made of lead - or something heavier. We would barrel down those
not very wide roads and sweep up on a tractor and zoom around it. When the
tractors were coming towards us, she did pull over as far to the right as she
could. I was amazed we did not go into ditches and over the hills into that
view I described earlier. I am proud of the fact that I never cringed. I just
held on to the door handle with white knuckles. Good times.
To be fair, this was good training
for me. My Mom got her license a year or so later. Her driving was quite
similar to her Mother’s. I did a lot of praying in the car!"
Another story from Kathryn:
"When I was in about 4th
grade, Chic and I missed the bus for School. It was because we needed lunch
money and getting it from the parents was not that easy at that time of day. We
lived on the farm. They told us to walk down to Center Lisle and catch the bus
at the bottom of the hill. So, we started walking. There is one area on the way
that has a patch of trees on one side of the road and from there you could see
Mt. Hunger Road - where our bus would come down.
Chic had us sit and watch for the
bus so we could miss it a second time.
After it went, we just walked the
rest of the way to Grandma’s store and let her know that we missed the bus. She
was a sweetie and decided to take us to school. After she made us breakfast.
And gave us lunch money. When she made breakfast it was a joy to behold. If she
had meat in the cooler that was close to going bad, but still good, she cooked
it up. There was home fries. Eggs. Toast. Jelly. I had milk. She usually had
cookies on hand. Yum!
Oh, I probably should let you know
that we (conveniently) missed the bus that went through Center Lisle. Also,
Chic did some messing around with Grandma’s car so it only made it to the Lisle
bridge. Tom Sessions had to come and fix it - but first he took me to school.
Chic skipped. He did give me extra money for ice cream. I often wondered if
Grandma ever realized what he did."
Aunt CB writes:
"Happy Birthday, Lilypickle!
I think it was your youngest
daughter, Gladys, who gave you that name, but we all used it eventually. Just
as we all called your bulging purse, Fort Knox (your term). That purse never
failed to pour forth kleenex, bandaids, lifesavers, toothpaste and pennies, as
needed.
My Aunt Lil was one of a kind! When
you misbehaved she’d scold you, but almost immediately grab you and say “Never
mind, have a Popsicle.” Most of our earliest memories of her are from the
store. That’s where she served those fabulous breakfasts and even let us drink
coffee (heavily laced with evaporated milk!). When it came time for us to
leave, after a visit, she’d give each of us a small paper bag and allow us a
small handful of penny candy to carry home (the derivation of Harold’s penny
candy counter in his gas station in later years).
Uncle Elmer, Aunt Lil and Phyllis McFall in store
She was my mother’s little sister
and they were as different as chalk and cheese, yet both shared a singular
trait, (inherited from their father, I think), they loved people! They were
‘listeners’ and attracted many friends.
Lil’s store was a country store in a
small community. It carried all the basics—bread, milk, meat, pop—but also
overalls and other clothing, cooking utensils, milk pails, boots, personal
needs and a full supply of animal medications as complete as ones for humans. I
know it’s been mentioned in the blog before. This store originally was the
first church building in town, then a house, then a garage, then her store.
When Lil retired, she made sure it eventually was returned to the church next
door, asking $1.00 for it. Today the land it stood upon serves as their parking
lot.
One lasting memory that has always
been common to all the descendants of Ethel and Lil is that of glimpsing the
two sisters, side by side on a bed, ‘resting’, their mouths going 90 miles an
hour with family gossip. We ALL loved to be in on that and just listen!
Sisters, Aunt Lil and Ethel
5 comments:
Great stories! Thank you so much for sharing these. Happy Birthday,Aunt Lil!
Love,
I did not realize till today that Grandma's birthday fell on election day this year! She sat on the election board every year. I loved to go down to the Odd Fellow's Hall and visit her on election day. So, I just celebrated her birthday by voting.
Grandma would be proud.
Wonderful stories, nicely done, thank you. Happy Birthday Grandma!
Great stories, thank you Mom and Kathryn! I especially loved the way that Kathryn told her stories - stopping and then off-handedly dropping in the next phrase that changed the direction you were sure the story had been going. I could see that bat out of *@)&(* barreling down the country roads, swerving around tractors, with a sweet little old lady at the wheel, just on her way to do her grocery shopping. And I could see those two kids sitting up on the hill breathing a sigh of relief when they saw their school bus go by down below. Left me laughing! Thanks again, and great job, both of you!
Happy birthday, Aunt Lil.
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